I Captured the Enemy Who Tried to Kill Me - Chapter 37
A match?
Impossible.
Was he crazy? Had he completely lost his mind?
Even if they were the last two people on earth, he would have no relationship with that woman, and could never have one even if he died.
Kaisis couldn’t compose his expression at this horrifying assumption that he couldn’t accept himself.
His anger was also excessive.
Even his disappointment was absurd.
‘All of a sudden.’
The relationship between magicians and Awakened Ones was worse than that between dogs and cats.
Did he really think their leader would truly care for his poor brother?
Just because she held his hand and brought him to a banquet once.
Just because she said she would bring him to see his face?
Disappointment? Ha, it wasn’t even funny.
“Like a dog.”
At his sudden curse, the Awakened knight followers widened their eyes in surprise.
Even though he sensed all that, he didn’t have the composure to turn around and check on them.
‘This is clearly strange.’
How many times had this happened already?
Uncontrollable situations always create variables.
Inside a Gate where one mistake could endanger lives, such variables acted as terrifying sources of anxiety.
‘The Emperor cannot afford mistakes.’
Moreover, Kaisis himself, being the strongest Awakened One, was someone who could not fall under any circumstances.
Gates appeared countless times each day, and dangerous areas required the deployment of high-ranking Awakened Ones like him.
Gritting his teeth, he endured the anxiety, impatience, and terrible emotions of unknown cause.
Of course, he was completely unaware that this was a psychological attack he was inflicting on himself for threatening his half-imprint partner.
“Your Majesty.”
The one who approached with a serious expression was an Awakened One, usually called his right-hand man.
“Report first.”
At his cold words, the knight saluted and shouted.
“Yes, reporting! Three injured, no casualties. Fourteen magic stones harvested as byproducts, to be delivered to the magicians. …But Your Majesty, are you really alright?”
“It’s fine. It’s nothing.”
But the knight didn’t believe him.
“You’ve used too much power.”
He looked around Kaisis with a serious expression.
“It seems your physical condition isn’t good. Considering what happened during the day…”
“What about the day? What are you talking about?”
When Kaisis’s expression naturally turned fierce, the knight quickly changed the subject.
“I apologize. Since the core has been dealt with, it would be best for you to exit and rest.”
He thought he was fine, but confirmed that his right-hand man wasn’t wrong.
‘I let my guard down.’
The intensity of the pain, which he hadn’t felt when blinded by anger, was worse than expected.
The blue veins spreading like vines over his skin stood out prominently enough to make any normal person recoil in disgust.
Terribly spreading burning sensation. Headache.
Pain like his heart would burst from pressure.
The funny thing was that while the overuse of power caused a burning sensation blooming like heat flowers all over his skin, the cold energy spreading along his veins made his insides feel freezing and agonizing.
‘My match.’
But it would be fine.
If he returned to the Imperial Palace and night fell, his match, who understood his pain, would miraculously come to him.
There was a clear difference in his thinking before and after having a match.
‘Does one become dependent on that existence?’
It wouldn’t be wrong to describe it as being like a leashed beast.
The irritation and anger that had spread without reason also seemed to gradually stabilize as he thought of his match, who was like a formless fog.
Looking around the desolate Gate landscape, Kaisis said.
“Let’s do that. We’ll return.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The knights’ expressions visibly improved, perhaps relieved that the Emperor’s irritability had finally stopped.
Seeing that, he suddenly came to his senses.
Concern for Luias belatedly bloomed.
The boy was sensitive and would surely be hurt.
That stiff and cold Duke didn’t seem likely to suddenly comfort the child’s wounds.
‘This has gone badly.’
But he couldn’t permit bringing Luias back to the palace either.
As his reason returned to its place, he realized how strange today’s events had been.
Thinking about that witness he had caught with the Duke and the drug, he could understand that this happened because there were untrustworthy people mixed in the Imperial Palace.
And that made his own behavior seem ridiculous.
He frowned and pressed his temple.
Imagining that woman arrogantly tilting her head upward, silently daring him to plead, made his irritation surge.
But.
“When we return, send word.”
The knights tilted their heads.
“To whom, Your Majesty?”
“Duke Ariel.”
“Uh… the Duke?”
“Yes. That woman.”
When he said that name, the knights’ expressions, which had been relaxing, stiffened again.
In any case, he needed to talk to her.
Just because he and that woman found each other uncomfortable didn’t mean they could live without seeing each other.
She was one of the two pillars supporting the empire, so what choice did they have?
“Today’s events were strange. I need to confirm.”
“Y-yes. I’ll deliver the message to the palace immediately. Then, shall we return to the central palace now?”
“For now, let’s go back and talk. The exit has appeared. Everyone, prepare.”
“Yes!”
He saw the Gate’s exit appearing like a mirage beyond the blood-soaked lake.
It was an exit that would only open after killing the monster leader containing the core.
No matter how many times he saw it, he couldn’t get used to it—it was a nauseating sight.
Feeling the terrible pressure of moving between different worlds, they passed through the Gate’s exit and emerged into their world.
“Your Majesty!”
He saw the worried head maid and his temporary dedicated Indojas who had been waiting, running toward him with concerned expressions.
A familiar, all too familiar sight.
But how nice would it be if his match were among them?
Not having to wait for when they would come, but someone who would always be by his side.
How wonderful that would be.
Today especially, an unbearable greed surged.
Perhaps it was because of the pain rising up to his nape.
“Your Majesty, we…”
“We’ll try again somehow!”
The Emperor’s Indojas had failed to calm him.
Yet after a night had passed, the Emperor would emerge completely recovered as if nothing had happened.
He knew there were various rumors about this.
The knights also wanted to ask about the situation, but couldn’t open their mouths, and even the faces of his three temporary Indojas, who were extremely anxious about losing their positions.
But not yet.
It was important not to confirm anything with his own mouth and to wait, so that his match, whose traces he hadn’t even found, wouldn’t run away completely.
That’s when it happened.
Something felt strange at his feet.
Reaching out faster than anyone, he blew away those positioned around him with branches of ice.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
The Indojas, who were nearly sprawled from the sudden situation, and the Awakened Ones who rushed to protect them.
In that moment when Kaisis was left alone, a huge shadow formed at his feet.
Everyone saw that sight.
A scene identical to the tragedy that occurred in the Imperial Garden six years ago.
“Everyone.”
Blood showed through his clenched gums.
This terrible sensation.
A feeling like his heart was being squeezed whole.
“Get away!”
—CRASH!
A thunderous sound spread as if something massive was hitting the ground.
Screams and thick dust were scattered.
And Kaisis saw the sight of darkness coloring his vision.
“Your Majesty!”
Something that should never happen in the Imperial Palace occurred.
Despite receiving God’s blessing, which should have made Gates impossible within the Imperial Palace.
‘Just like six years ago, when Mother died.’
It was a Gate rampage.
With the image of knights running toward him, screaming as his last sight, a black curtain fell before his eyes.
He felt a constricting pain, as if being crushed.
It swallowed Kaisis.
In the terrible silence, those who remained watched it with blank expressions.
“Th-this can’t be…”
“How in the Imperial Palace!”
“He was about to rampage! What do we do? His Majesty was sucked in alone!”
The black hole that swallowed the Emperor.
No one could enter until the person who had already entered died.
Dangerous signals crackling and blooming.
It was clearly a Gate rampage.
